Global Kids Day Care - Mile End Branch

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff greet and welcome children into the nursery warmly. This helps children feel settled and happy. Staff use their knowledge of children's interests and next steps to plan activities that encourage children to maintain attention and remain engaged. For example, children thoroughly enjoy cutting their own fruit and vegetables during snack time. Adults promote discussions about healthy eating. Children benefit from developing their knowledge of the importance of maintaining a healthy diet.

Staff ensure that they support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to access activities that help them to meet their next steps. They construct a curriculum that ensures all children, including children with SEND, have opportunities to discover and explore their imagination. Staff plan activities that support children to develop their fine and gross motor skills to enable children to enhance their skills. For example, children enjoy learning to ride tricycles, navigating space safely. They wait patiently to complete the obstacle course. Staff encourage children to work in small groups to complete puzzles and build towers using construction blocks. Overall, staff demonstrate good behaviour and exude calm attitudes. This helps children regulate their emotions most of the time. Staff plan opportunities through the curriculum for children to explore the natural world. Children enjoy watering plants, discussing the strawberries that are growing.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• The SEND provision is effective. Staff feel supported to provide effective support for children with SEND. This is because the Manager, who is also the special educational needs coordinator (SENCO), has a good knowledge of how to support children with SEND. She provides staff with coaching, mentoring and support with planning to support their key children with SEND well. The SENCO also works closely with the local authority inclusion team and external agencies to support children to make progress and have their needs met effectively. She also works in partnership with children's key persons and parents.
• Staff express that they feel well supported and valued. Managers provide opportunities for staff to develop their practice through additional training, mentoring and coaching. This helps staff to observe, assess and plan activities for their key children effectively.
• Generally, children are reminded to follow behaviour expectations by some staff members. However, at times, all staff do not securely and consistently reinforce high expectations of children's behaviour and conduct. For example, when the manager used the stop signal, this was not practised by all staff. In addition, staff did not remind the children to stop. This delayed children from transitioning from their play to the next activity, which was to tidy up.
• Children demonstrate the ability to use the toilet and take care of their personal hygiene independently. However, at times, staff do not maximise opportunities to encourage children to do things for themselves to build consistently on their independence skills. For example, during tidy-up time, staff use the brush to sweep the floor. At lunchtime, staff also set the table for the children.
• Children benefit from eating freshly prepared nutritious hot meals for lunch. The nursery has been awarded the silver award for 'Healthy Early Years London'.
• Staff support children to develop their mathematical skills by encouraging them to sing nursery rhymes and to count fruits during snack time. They also provide opportunities for children to explore the shapes and sizes of different fruits.
• Parents speak positively about the good communication that staff maintain in updating them about their children's learning and development. They appreciate the termly parent meetings as well as the daily feedback they receive from their child's key person.
• Managers and staff ensure diversity is built into their curriculum. Children and parents benefit from celebrating events such as cultural days. They celebrate individuality, and staff support children to develop respect towards other people's beliefs and cultures. Weekly cookery sessions enable children to explore and make different cuisines from around the world.
• Staff use the early years pupil premium funding to close the gaps in the learning of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to reinforce high expectations of children's behaviour and conduct securely and consistently
• maximise opportunities to encourage children to do things for themselves to build consistently on their independence skills.